Guardian journalist Alok Jha and video producer Laurence Topham are among 52 scientists and passengers who have been airlifted to the Aurora Australis by a Chinese helicopter from the Xue Long icebreaker in a co-ordinated rescue mission. Their research vessel, the Akademik Shokalskiy, became trapped in heavy sea ice off the coast of Antarctica on Christmas Eve and has been unable to break free

The Shokalskiy expedition's current troubles in polar pack ice are reminiscent of Ernest Shackleton's legendary expedition to Antarctica (1914-1917) when the aptly named Endurance became trapped and was eventually crushed by pack ice in the Weddell Sea. The story of survival that followed is the stuff of legend